Tiger Stripes
by pullingbeckettspigtails
Summary: Kate and Rick's four-year old daughter asks about Kate's stretchmarks. Pure fluff.


**Summary: Kate and Rick's four-year old daughter asks about Kate's stretchmarks. Pure fluff.**

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><p>Kate whipped her head around to the bedroom doorway as she held the small pitter patter of feet approaching, a few stray hairs falling from her immaculate bun.<p>

"Mommy!" Verity greeted happily, running forward and jumping up onto the double bed, her socked feet dangling from the edge, "What'cha doin'?" She asked, in a perfect impression of the cartoon character Isabella from Phineas and Ferb, making Kate her mother chuckle under her breath.

"Just choosing what to wear." The Mom answered simply, holding up two shirts close to her chest - one ruby, one dark teal - to see which one would pair best with the black skinny jeans she was already wearing.

"Red one!" The four-year old exclaimed, "You look pretty in red." A beat passed, before the girl suddenly gasped, "You look pretty every day, but you look very very pretty in red." She corrected, the words coming out in a flurry.

"You're just being nice to me because I'm going to your parent/teacher meeting tonight." She teased through her laughter.

"Noooo!" Verity whined, pouting at the accusation and dropping her shoulders, making her light brown curls bounce.

"Well, I don't believe you…" Kate commented casually, but before her daughter could rebut the statement, she added, "Maybe I'll just have to tickle you until you tell me the truth!"

Within seconds, Kate had dropped the two shirts to the floor and taken a couple of large strides until she was hovering above the toddler, who was already curled up in a ball for protection, and let her hands roam over the girl's tiny frame, the squeals emitting from her throat as Kate wiggled her fingers around Verity's stomach and underarm.

Suddenly, the girl stopped, "What's that?" She asked, curiosity laced in her voice.

Beckett looked down as her daughter's little hands ran over her mother's stomach and hips lightly, not wanting to do any harm. Verity's fingers traced over the white and pink lines, her eyes not straying from them as Kate moved and sat down on the bed next to her daughter. She took a deep breath whilst wondering the best way to explain her stretch marks to the four year old.

"I got them when I grew up," She began, "and a few more when I had you."

Verity's hazel eyes snapped upwards to meet her mother's eyes of almost the same colour, "Me? I do something bad?"

Kate winced at the girl's injured tone, then reached out her arms to scoop the child into her lap, "No, baby, you didn't do anything bad." She paused before continuing, "You know how Alexis has a bump on her belly?"

Verity nodded fervently, "Because there's a baby growing in there."

"That's right. So when you were growing in Mommy's belly, I had a big bump too."

"Bigger than Lexie's?" The girl questioned, her fingers once again running over the now flat stomach.

"By the time you were ready to come out, yeah. Much bigger." She said honestly, considering that Alexis was only just past five months pregnant.

Kate looked down at Verity, whose face was slack as she listened intently to her mother's voice. "They don't hurt, Vi. They're just…" Kate hesitated, not sure if stretch marks was a word her daughter would understand. So she improvised.

"Stripes. They're my stripes." She concluded, an amazed gasp falling from the girl's lips.

"I get stripes too when I grow up?" Verity asked, as she lifted up her Disney top with Princess Elsa printed on the front, already tracing on non-existent lines across her porcelain skin.

Kate grew a wide grin at her daughter's eagerness, "Yeah. And they're completely normal and natural." She commented, knowing that when she had first seen the stretch marks on her hips when she was a teenager, she refrained from wearing any items of clothing that would show those patches of skin for years, and hoped that her baby girl wouldn't feel compelled to do the same.

"I can't wait for my tiger stripes!" Verity exclaimed, her little fists thrown in the air as she jumped off the bed with a small thump.

Kate watched happily as her daughter walked through the door frame, but she suddenly span around, Beckett's eyebrows raising in question.

"Remember. Red shirt, Mommy." She stated matter-of-factly, crossing her arms.

Kate bit the inside of her cheek as an attempt not to laugh at the four year old's adorable seriousness when her face was slightly scrunched up to create the effect of a stiff upper lip.

"Yes ma'am." She agreed, causing Verity to erupt into giggles as she ran back up the stairs, presumably to her room.

Later, she heard her husband approaching the bathroom as she was applying her mascara and looked up at his reflection in the mirror.

"You almost ready to go?" Rick asked calmly, "The babysitter's here."

Kate placed her tube of mascara back in her make-up bag and turned around to face her partner, loosely looping her arms around his neck, relishing in the feeling of his automatically returning the action, but instead on her hips.

"Ready." She breathed, with a large smile evident on her face.

"Let's hope you're still this happy after the parent/teacher meeting. I know my mother was always mad at me after mine." He said, his eyes looking to the side as if he was remembering the memory clearly.

"Well, Verity hasn't yet taken three pots of acrylic paint and thrown them on the white wall of the classroom." Kate quipped, making Rick's jaw open slightly.

"She told you about that?" He gasped in offence, murmuring 'traitor' under his breath once Kate had nodded, making her laugh.

"Come on, we've got to go soon if we don't want to get stuck in rush-hour traffic." She said, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on her husband's lips.

He smiled warmly as they pulled away, "You look beautiful, by the way." He praised, his eyes roaming over her ruby coloured shirt and her black trousers, which were paired with some brown heeled boots and a black, stylish trench coat.

"Thanks," She answered, "Vi helped me pick out my outfit." She smiled, kissing Rick once more before removing herself from his grasp.

She began to walk to the living room, but Rick's voice piped up behind her as he followed.

"Speaking of our daughter, any idea why she's in front of the mirror in the bathroom, pretending to be a tiger?"

Kate only laughed.

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><p><strong>Just a little something before I get back into the grind of work and Uni tomorrow! Hope you all had a great holiday! Please review if you have the time, it really means a lot :)<strong>

**Lou xo**


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